George Steiner on difficulty in poetry
May 25, 2012This blog is going on holiday, to Exmoor, in around half an hour. I�ll just post some food for thought� I�m not even sure if it�s a direct quote or a paraphrase. It�s from Parameter magazine online, referring to an essay by George Steiner, �On Difficulty�, in the Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, vol 36, no.3, spring 1978. One day I�ll look it up.
According to Steiner, or the paraphrase of Steiner, these are the causes of difficulty in poetry.
"1 � The Epiphenomenal Difficulty. This is in the use of obscure words, phrases; and of ideas that relate to unusual or relatively unconnected areas of knowledge.
2 � The Tactical Difficulty. This is where something is deliberately withheld from the text. This was a major strategy of Eastern European writers, where a classical allusion was used as a comment on a contemporary situation, but the readers had to draw the linkages themselves.
3 - The Modal Difficulty. This is where the tone of the poem renders it unappealing. Think of Swift�s diatribe�s on women�s boudoirs. It need not be inimical to the reader, just at odds with the subject.
4 � The Ontological Difficulty. Contemporary poets question more than ever before the ways a writer communicates with the reader, the languages used, and the ways syntax can be manipulated to express more of the complexity of the contemporary world."
PS (nearly 2 weeks later): I posted the quote without re-reading it first. It reads like a paraphrase.
PS (nearly 2 weeks later): I posted the quote without re-reading it first. It reads like a paraphrase.
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